The third and last week of the 100-year old Giro didn't give many surprises and the Russian rider Denis Menchov of the Dutch Rabobank team has managed -despit a fall in the final time trial- to keep his pink jersey until the end. At 31 years old he wins his first Tour of Italy after having won the Vuelta a Espa&ntildea two times already: in 2005 and 2007.

I thought it would be a good idea to present you a summary of the first week of the Tour of Italy 2009 at this first rest day.

To summarise this first week in just a few words, I could say that the Columbia High Road and LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini teams dominated the race if you only look at the stage wins. In the general ranking, these teams are highly represented as well, but in the top 10 we also find several favourites for the final win, such ...

Since the Giro d'Italia 2009 started with a wonderful team time trial won by Columbia High Road yesterday and a stage which was won in the sprint by Alessandro Petacchi ahead of Mark Cavendish (see below), one could almost forget that the 4 Jours de Dunkerque finished today as well. That's a bit strange, especially because the jersey of the leader of this race ... is just as pink as the one which is used in the Tour of Italy!

The young Portuguese rider Rui Alberto Faria da Costa of the Caisse d'Epargne team won this race in the north of France.

The 4 Jours de Dunkerque

Despite what the name seems to indicate, this race is a stage race during 6 days instead of 4, in 2009 from Tuesday 5 May till today, Sunday 10 May.
The race was created in 1955 by a group of cycli ...> Read the whole story | 1 comment | shown 15429x

Under a grey sky, but fortunately without any rain, the first stage of the 100 year old Giro just finished. This stage, a team time trial, was won by the Columbia High Road team.

This team's leader, Mark Cavendish, takes the very first pink jersey of this Tour of Italy.

The Columbia High Road riders, who left first, had two wait for about two hours before they knew they indeed did the best time. They have finished the 20,5 kilometers on the Lido di Venezia island in 21 minutes and 50 seconds, with an average speed of 56,335 kilometers per hour.

Mark Cavendish was thus right when he said at a press conference that the complete focus of the Garmin Slipstream team on this team time trial was disrespectful. Indeed, the team which won this stage last year made this stage its primary goal in this year's Giro d'Italia.

Mark Cavendish said about this yesterday: The thing about it is that the Giro's 21 days. I think it's a bit d ...

Tomorrow the first Grand Tour, the Tour of Italy, finally starts in Venice with a team time trial.

In this article you'll find the latest news around this centenary Giro: the start order for tomorrow's team time trial and a last minute change in the route of the 17th stage between Chieti and Blockhaus.
And as a bonus you'll find at the end of the article a short movie which presents the full route of all stages.

The start order for the team time trial - Saturday 9 May 2009 - Lido di Venezia

Tomorrow at the end of the afternoon the rider of the team who wins this stage who first crosses the finish line will wear the very first pink jersey of this Giro d'Italia. This first stage will take place on the island Lido di Venezia in the Gulf of Venice.

update 8 May: riders' numbers have been added and some last minute changes

With only a few days to go before the start of the Giro d'Italia 2009, the 100-year edition of the Tour of Italy, from Venice, the selections of riders for the different teams are being announced one by one.

In this article you'll find the full selections of all teams and as soon as they will be available their numbers will be added as well.

The participating riders are shown below per team in the full list of teams which are organised by country.

The Giro d'Italia celebrates its 100th anniversary with its 92nd edition next year and will celebrate this at the Piazzale Loreto. Indeed, the place where the first Giro d'Italia started on 13 May 1909 will be visited several times during the 9th stage of the Tour of Italie in 2009.

This article will allow you to discover the route, the start and finish cities and the mountain profiles of the 2009 2009 Giro d'Italia as presented on Saturday 13 December in Venice!

Some history

The first Giro d'Italia was organised in 1909 and was composed of 8 stages with a total distance of 2448 kilometres. This first Tour of Italie took place from 13 till 20 May 1909 and was won by the Italian rider Luigi Ganna. At the start of this first Corsa Rosa, at 2.53AM on 13 May, there were 127 riders, all Italian, except for 4 French riders. Only 49 of them managed to get to the finish in Milan.